Roller Coaster Essay

Introduction

The purpose of this project is to design and build a functional roller coaster for a marble or, if possible, multiple marbles. The base of the roller coaster must be lesser than 1m x 1m.This roller coaster is run based on conservation of mechanical energy. The scientific concept of force, motion and energy, which we had learnt this year, have been applied into this project. My roller coaster model consist of seven loops, two layer of spiral (horizontal loops) and a funnel at the end point. Theory/ Background studies

The model is built based on the concept of conservation of energy. Energy is defined as a property that must be transferred to an object in order to perform work on the object. Examples of energy are kinetic energy,

At the top of the hill, the marble has large quantity of potential energy and kinetic energy is zero or nearly zero as the marble is virtually at rest. As the marble descend, its potential energy decreases due to lose in height. As observed in the model, the marble speed up as their height (position) decreases. Throughout the whole ride, the marble is continuously losing and gaining height. Each gain in height corresponds to the loss of speed as kinetic energy is transformed into potential energy and vice versa. This model demonstrate the transformation of mechanical energy from the form of potential to the form of kinetic and vice versa. Mechanical energy refers to the total of potential energy and kinetic energy in a system: KEi + PEi = KEf + PEf. The principle of conservation of mechanical energy states that total mechanical energy, which is the addition of potential energy and kinetic energy, remains constant as long as the only forces acting are conservative forces. “A conservative force is defined as a force with the property that the work done in moving an object between two points is independent of the taken path.” ( Robert A. Pelcovits, 2002) Example of conservative forces in this project is gravitational potential energy. Theoretically, this process could go on forever and the ride would never end if friction and air resistance are ignored. This is because gravitational potential energy is assumed to be transferred completely to kinetic energy and vice